Equiniti is an intelligent provider of sophisticated technology, administration, processing and payments services, delivered by over 5,000 employees worldwide. Our mission is making complex things simple for organisations and individuals alike.

Through our public and private sector solutions, Equiniti interacts with over 28 million individuals worldwide, approximately the same population as Australia. If you need help to manage your shareholdings, employee scheme or pensions, we've got the resources and contacts to help you.

Equiniti’s Cyber Security business is delighted to announce the launch of its new threat intelligence platform, EQ FirstSight.

EQ FirstSight enables organisations to identify and actively monitor threats or exposure points that exist online and outside firewalls thereby often escaping traditional perimeter protection mechanisms despite the significant risk they pose to businesses if they are not properly secured or maintained.

The tool continuously monitors 11 threat vectors, cross referencing thousands of data points across the surface, deep and dark web which is then collected and processed by automated systems. An additional layer of human expertise provided by Equiniti’s dedicated team of Cyber Security Analysts conducts further research to assign a severity level to threats and minimise false alerts.

Urgent or actionable intelligence is then delivered to businesses to help them understand inbound threats more efficiently and give them the specific evidence needed to prevent malicious activity.

Additionally, EQ FirstSight works in tandem with EQ Zero – which identifies and quarantines illegitimate emails while providing the information to trace the cyber criminals – to provide forensic reports on email threats. This service will assist companies in understanding precisely what data hackers are trying to harvest and the identities of the companies that are either hosting the individual phishing sites or sending the fraudulent emails.

Chris Underhill, Chief Technology Officer at Equiniti, commented:

“We have witnessed cyber criminals and fraudsters shifting their focus from consumers to businesses, where the prizes are more significant. They are using their expertise to find weak links in the businesses value chain to maximise their return on investment.

“EQ FirstSight monitors the digital footprint of businesses and provides actionable insight by detecting, analysing and contextualising threats that are directly relevant to your operations. Making use of external intelligence from a range of sources is necessary to create valuable evidence into who is targeting a business’s operations, the tactics they might use, and the vulnerabilities they could exploit.

“This sophisticated approach will drive better informed IT security decisions and the prevention of attacks before they occur. This is especially pertinent at a time when common threats, such as data breaches, cost an average of $140 million in lost revenue to a single business alone – estimated to rise to around £2.2 billion per organisation by 2020.”

For more information:

Temple Bar Advisory

Notes to Editor:

About Equiniti

Equiniti Group is a specialist administrator delivering technology-enabled solutions to some of the world’s best-known brands and UK’s largest public-sector organisations.

It is the UK’s leading provider of share registration, employee share plans, and associated investor services, and also has market leading positions in pension administration and software, and employee benefit schemes. Equiniti’s services, which are delivered by over 5,000 employees, benefit 28 million people in the UK and 120 countries around the world.

Equiniti’s Cyber Security business is a threat data and cyber security solutions provider helping companies succeed as market leaders by using great intelligence. It combines cutting-edge technology, substantial experience and specialist talent to offer targeted, scalable and effective security services.